A cryptocurrency wallet labeled “German Government (BKA)” by analytics firm Arkham began transferring Bitcoin on June 19, sparking curiosity in the community. The wallet movements have led many to believe that the German government is selling Bitcoin.
German government seizes BTC from pirated movie platform
According to Arkham data, the cryptocurrency wallet held nearly 50,000 Bitcoin as of February 2024 – confiscated from the operator of pirated movie website Movie2k, before transferring nearly 6,500 BTC on June 19.
The German Government is now on Arkham.
The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) seized almost 50,000 BTC ($2.12B) from the operators of https://t.co/ck07DiJUAfa film pirate website that was active in 2013.
The BKA received the Bitcoin in mid-January after a ‘voluntary… pic.twitter.com/0kC5tOPq6e
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) January 31, 2024
The German government-linked wallet made four transactions on June 19, with one transfer of 6,500 BTC worth more than $425 million to wallet address “bc1q0unygz3ddt8x0v33s6ztxkrnw0s0tl7zk4yxwd” and another transaction of 2,500 BTC worth $154 million. million USD to its private address.
Bitcoin movements from German government wallets. Source: Arkham
The wallet that received 6,500 BTC then transferred 2,500 BTC to another address, “bc1qq0l4jgg9rcm3puhhfwaz4c9t8hdee8hfz6738z”. This address then transfers the newly received funds in four 500 BTC transactions. Two of these transactions went to cryptocurrency exchanges Kraken and Bitstamp, while the remaining two were transferred to unknown private addresses.
BTC is transferred to exchanges. Source: Arkham
The German government-labeled wallet currently holds 43,359 BTC worth $2.83 billion. Although not all transferred funds were liquidated, some were declare that the recent increase in short positions and decline in the Bitcoin market could be due to a sell-off by the German government.
Governments around the world often confiscate Bitcoin and other digital assets from criminals, and they occasionally hold auctions to sell those cryptocurrencies.
The US government sold a significant amount of BTC confiscated from the infamous Silk Road dark web market. Tim Draper, an American businessman and avid Bitcoin advocate, purchased Silk Road BTC in 2014 at an auction organized by the United States Marshals Service.
Itadori
According to Cointelegraph
